First off I have a 04 4.0 SOHC 4x4 with roughly 72K miles on it.

Last weekend I noticed that driving at highway speeds I had a tiny squeal that went away as soon as you turn on the AC. Well today I turned on the AC and began to drive, When I went to turn I had no Power Steering and the Battery light way on. I turned the AC off and the problem disappeared. As soon as I turn it on the same thing happens again. So when I just got home I poped the hood, Looked under with AC OFF and everything was fine, Turned AC ON and the clutch releases and the drive belt slows some and Battery Light flickers a little. As soon as I begin to turn the wheel the drive belt slows way down and battery light on solid...


The thing that did not happen is the RPMs of the motor do NOT drop at all between on and off. And there is NO CEL

Im assuming that it is something to do with the AC compressor clutch, If so is there a way to just get the clutch and rebuild it? If you have any other suggestions or tests for me to try let me know

Thanks

 

You at least need a new belt. Maybe even a tensioner. At least get a new belt on there. It sounds like it has stretched.

 

The belt was put on when I purchased it last may at 50K miles

 

Well i figured out what was the cause of my problem... The harmonic balancer came apart... The rubber came apart between the two pieces and the outer ring spun at a different speed than the inner ring when there was a load (AC ON) on the motor.

Took me a couple hours and i had my truck working like new again

I took the belt off and the outer ring just fell off




New balancer cost me 141 after tax from ford, And it was a redesigned part

 

wow, that sucks. when you put one of those on, is there a dowel or an indicator that it has to be put on a certain way?

that is pretty cool how it split so clean like that.

 

Yeah there is like a ridge that it slides or so the crank sensor ring is right